Generating a robot control policy from demonstrations

ABSTRACT

Learning to effectively imitate human teleoperators, even in unseen, dynamic environments is a promising path to greater autonomy, enabling robots to steadily acquire complex skills from supervision. Various motion generation techniques are described herein that are rooted in contraction theory and sum-of-squares programming for learning a dynamical systems control policy in the form of a polynomial vector field from a given set of demonstrations. Notably, this vector field is provably optimal for the problem of minimizing imitation loss while providing certain continuous-time guarantees on the induced imitation behavior. Techniques herein generalize to new initial and goal poses of the robot and can adapt in real time to dynamic obstacles during execution, with convergence to teleoperator behavior within a well-defined safety tube.

BACKGROUND

Various techniques have been proposed to enable robots to performvarious tasks. For example, some techniques enable a user tokinesthetically teach the robot to follow a particular trajectory. Forinstance, the user may physically manipulate a robot arm to cause areference point of an end effector of the robot arm to traverse theparticular trajectory—and that particular traversed trajectory maythereafter be repeatable by the robot arm. As another example, while auser uses his or her arm to perform a task like moving to and graspingan object, a camera or other device may obtain visual samples of themovement to determine a trajectory of a reference point of the user'sarm, which may then be repeated by a robot arm. However, those and othertechniques may suffer from one or more drawbacks, such as thosedescribed herein.

The classical way to record a particular trajectory is to generate atime-indexed trajectory, e.g., of individual waypoints. This recordedtrajectory can be used as a robot control policy. Whatever the startingpoint of the end effector reference point, the policy may cause therobot to identify the closest individual waypoint of the time-indexedtrajectory, move the end effector reference point to that way point, andthen move it along the remainder of the trajectory. However, thistechnique may not yield optimal results in terms of time required totraverse the trajectory and/or robot wear and tear. Moreover, a robotoperating in accordance with such a simple control policy may not bewell-suited to deal with dynamic obstacles in the environment.

SUMMARY

In contrast to the approaches described previously which formulate atask using a time-indexed trajectory, in a dynamical systems approach tofeedback control, robot motion during a task (for example reaching acup) is formulated as a differential equation. Such a representationallows better generalization since instead of memorizing thedemonstration trajectories, the policy has to capture the essentialdynamics underlying the task during training. Additionally, a dynamicalsystems policy can, by construction, adapt to changes in dynamicenvironments, making it suitable for use in unstructured environments.

Implementations are described herein for using contraction theory andsemidefinite programming to generate, from a set of data pointsgenerated during a demonstration, a dynamical systems control policythat regulates both robot motion and robot interaction with anenvironment. In various implementations, the dynamical systems controlpolicy, which may include and/or take the form of a polynomialcontracting vector field (referred to herein as “CVF-P” in someinstances), is provably optimal for the problem of minimizing imitationloss while providing continuous-time guarantees on the induced imitationbehavior. Techniques described herein facilitate real-time adaptation todynamic obstacles during execution, with convergence to demonstratedbehavior within a well-defined safety tube.

In some implementations, a set of data points sampled duringdemonstration-based learning of a robot trajectory (also referred to as“imitation learning” or “kinesthetic teaching”) is used to calculate acontinuous function that corresponds to (e.g., approximates or fits) thetrajectory. A polynomial vector field may then be fitted to thecontinuous function. In some implementations, a neighborhood space thatcontains the set of data points may be constrained into a contractingregion, such as a tube around the robot trajectory. Notably, rather thanusing optimization techniques such as regression analysis or stochasticgradient descent, in various implementations, semidefinite programmingmay be employed. In various implementations, it is possible to usesemidefinite programming for which a sum-of-squares relaxation yields aglobally-optimal solution. Consequently, it is possible to calculate aglobally-optimal polynomial vector that has the lowest imitation lossamong all polynomial vector fields of a given degree.

To enable obstacle avoidance, in some implementations, an inversekinematic mapping, “IK,” is calculated that maps a position in Cartesianspace to a subset of joint space that contains all possible jointconfigurations that would cause any part of a robot (particularly arobot arm) to occupy the position in Cartesian space. For example, insome implementations, sensor data indicative of a position of obstaclein Cartesian space, such as a point cloud generated by a 3D or 2.5Dvision sensor, may be used to calculate a position of the obstacle injoint space. Based on the position of the obstacle in joint space, arepulsive polynomial vector field may be generated for the obstacle. Thepolynomial vector field of the dynamical systems control policy may thenbe modulated based on the repulsive polynomial vector field for theobject, e.g., by adding the fields together.

In some implementations, the position of the obstacle in joint space maybe determined based on a mapping from Cartesian space to joint space.This mapping may be generated, for instance, by discretizing the jointspace of the robot into a plurality of discrete positions (e.g.,hundreds of thousands). In some implementations, this may includeregularly sampling each joint of the robot from a minimum angle to amaximum angle using a predetermined step size, e.g., of 0.1 radians. Therobot may then be voxelized at each of the plurality of discretepositions, e.g., using a robot simulation program, to generate a mappingfrom joint space to Cartesian space. The mapping from Cartesian space tojoint space may be calculated an inverse of the mapping from joint spaceto Cartesian space.

In various implementations, a method may be implemented using one ormore processors and may include: receiving a set of data pointsgenerated based on sensor data from one or more sensors obtained duringimitation learning of a robot trajectory, wherein the imitation learningincludes physical manipulation of a reference point from an initialpoint to a target point; generating a dynamical systems control policythat regulates both robot motion and robot interaction with anenvironment, wherein generating the dynamical systems control policycomprises: based on the set of data points, calculating a continuousfunction that corresponds to the robot trajectory, and fitting apolynomial vector field to the continuous function using semidefiniteprogramming, wherein the dynamical systems control policy comprises thepolynomial vector field; and controlling a robot based on the dynamicalsystems control policy.

In various implementations, the method may include constraining aneighborhood space that contains the set of data points into acontracting region. In various implementations, the contracting regioncomprises a tube around the robot trajectory.

In various implementations, the method may further include: receivingsensor data indicative of a position of obstacle in Cartesian space;determining a position of the obstacle in joint space based on theposition of the obstacle in Cartesian space; based on the position ofthe obstacle in joint space, generating a repulsive polynomial vectorfield for the obstacle; and modulating the polynomial vector field ofthe dynamical systems control policy based on the repulsive polynomialvector field for the obstacle. In various implementations, the positionof the obstacle in joint space is determined based on a mapping fromCartesian space to joint space.

In various implementations, the mapping may be generated by:discretizing the joint space of the robot into a plurality of discretepositions; voxelizing the robot at each of the plurality of discretepositions to generate a mapping from joint space to Cartesian space; andcalculating the mapping from Cartesian space to joint space as aninverse of the mapping from joint space to Cartesian space. In variousimplementations, the discretizing may include regularly sampling eachjoint of the robot from a minimum angle to a maximum angle using apredetermined step size.

In addition, some implementations include one or more processors of oneor more computing devices, where the one or more processors are operableto execute instructions stored in associated memory, and where theinstructions are configured to cause performance of any of theaforementioned methods. Some implementations also include one or moretransitory and/or non-transitory computer readable storage media storingcomputer instructions executable by one or more processors to performany of the aforementioned methods.

It should be appreciated that all combinations of the foregoing conceptsand additional concepts described in greater detail herein arecontemplated as being part of the subject matter disclosed herein. Forexample, all combinations of claimed subject matter appearing at the endof this disclosure are contemplated as being part of the subject matterdisclosed herein.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS AND APPENDIX

FIG. 1 illustrates an example environment in which techniques describedherein may be implemented.

FIG. 2 illustrates an example of a robot that may be utilized in FIG. 1,an example object, and illustrates a user physically manipulating therobot during a kinesthetic teaching.

FIG. 3 schematically depicts an example architecture of a robot.

FIG. 4 schematically depicts an example architecture of a computersystem.

FIGS. 5A and 5B depict examples of a problem addressed using techniquesdescribed herein.

FIGS. 6A, 6B, 6C, 6D, 6E, 6F, and 6G depict examples of trajectories,some of which are used and/or generated using techniques describedherein.

FIG. 7 depicts an example method for practicing selected aspects of thepresent disclosure, in accordance with various implementations.

FIGS. 8A, 8B, and 8C demonstrate one example of how a polynomial vectorfield may be modulated based on a detected obstacle, in accordance withvarious implementations.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

FIG. 1 depicts an example environment in which techniques describedherein may be implemented. The example environment includes one or morerobots 180 and a control policy system 120. Although the control policysystem 120 is illustrated as separate from the robot(s) 180, in someimplementations one or more aspects of the control policy system 120 maybe implemented by a corresponding one of the one or more robots 180(e.g., by one or more processors of the robot). For example, in someimplementations each of the robot(s) 180 may include an instance of thecontrol policy system 120. In some implementations, one or more (e.g.,all) aspects of the control policy system 120 are implemented on acomputing system that is separate from the robot(s) 180, such as one orremote computing devices and/or computing systems in networkcommunication with the robot(s) 180. For example, one or more aspects ofthe control policy system 120 may be implemented by remote computingdevice(s), the robot(s) 180 may transmit (via one or more networks) datafrom demonstration(s) to the remote computing devices, the remotecomputing device(s) may generate the control policy based on thetransmitted data, then transmit the generated control policy back to therobot(s) 180.

During a kinesthetic teaching/physical manipulation by a user of one ofthe robot(s) 180, sensor data is generated by the robot. The sensor datais provided to the control policy system 120. The control policy system120 generates a group of data points based on the sensor data of thekinesthetic teaching and uses the group of data points in generating acontrol policy using various techniques described herein. The controlpolicy is provided for use by one or more of the robot(s) 180 (the samerobot of the kinesthetic teaching and/or additional robot(s)). Suchrobot(s) 180 use the control policy to selectively control one or moreof its actuators based on the control policy. For example, the controlpolicy may be invoked by such robot(s) 180 in response to detection ofan object associated with the control policy, a task associated with thecontrol policy, etc.—and used by the robot in regulating both motion andinteraction with the environment.

The control policy system 120 includes a data engine 122 and a learningengine 124. In some implementations, more or fewer engines may beprovided. In some implementations, the data engine 122 samples adistributed group of data points and provides them to learning engine124 for use in generating a control policy. In some implementations, thedata engine 122 additionally or alternatively automatically generates apotential gradient for a group of data points, assigns the potentialgradient to the data points of the group, and provides the assignedpotential gradient to learning engine 124 for use in generating acontrol policy. The learning engine 124 generates a control policy usingone or more groups of data points that are each based on robot sensordata from a corresponding kinesthetic teaching.

FIG. 2 illustrates an example of a robot 280A that may be one of therobot(s) 180 utilized in FIG. 1. FIG. 2 also illustrates a user 200physically grasping an end effector 286 of the robot 280A duringphysical manipulation of the robot 280A by the user. Also illustrated inFIG. 2 is a spray can 205 resting on a surface 209. As indicated in FIG.2, the illustrated robot 280A includes a base 282 and eight actuators284 a-h that provide degrees of freedom for the robot and provide therobot 280A with kinematic redundancy. It is noted that the actualactuators 284 a-h are located “under” the exterior shell of the robot280A, but are labeled with reference to the exterior shell in FIG. 2 forthe sake of simplicity. Robot 280A may include other actuators, such asone or more actuators that control opening/closing of actuable membersof end effector 286, but those are not labeled in FIG. 2 for the sake ofclarity and brevity. Robot 280A may be physically manipulated by theuser 200 to cause the robot 280A to traverse any one of a plurality ofpossible trajectories when moving a reference point of end effector 286from a starting location to a target location. In some implementations,the robot 280A may be in a gravity compensated mode during all orportions of the physical manipulation of the robot 280A by the user.

The trajectory 201 of FIG. 2 illustrates a trajectory followed by areference point of the end effector 286 during the demonstration (thetrajectory is dictated by the physical manipulation of the robot 280A bythe user 200). The demonstration started with the reference point at astarting point 202 and ends, as shown in FIG. 2, with the referencepoint at a target point 203. Sensor data may be generated by the robot280A during the demonstration, such as sensor data that indicates thepose (i.e., the position and optionally the orientation) of the endeffector 286. The sensor data that indicates the pose of the endeffector may be, for example, sensor data from one or more positionsensors associated with actuators 284 a-h that control the pose of theend effector. As described herein, the sensor data may be utilized togenerate the data points. For example, the data points may be describedin joint space (e.g., as the positions of each of the actuators 284 a-h)and/or task or “Cartesian” space (e.g., as the position and orientationof the end effector 286, as derived from the position sensors).

Although not illustrated, robot 280A may also include and/or be incommunication with one or more user interface input devices, such as abutton or other user interface element located on an exterior surface ofthe robot 280A, a virtual user interface element provided via a tabletor other computing device in communication with the robot 280A, and/or amicrophone included with the robot 280A and/or in communication with therobot. In some of those implementations a user may provide userinterface input via the user interface element to, for example: indicatethe initiation and/or conclusion of a demonstration.

Although a particular robot 280A is illustrated in FIG. 2, additionaland/or alternative robots may be utilized, including robots having otherrobot arm forms, robots having a humanoid form, robots that move via oneor more wheels (e.g., other self-balancing robots), and so forth. Also,although a particular grasping end effector 286 is illustrated in FIG.2, additional and/or alternative end effectors may be utilized.

And while manual training of a robot arm is demonstrated in FIG. 2, thisis not meant to be limiting. In various implementations, other types ofkinesthetic teachings (“LfD”) may be employed. For example, in someimplementations, a user may operate a graphical user interface of acomputing device (e.g., touching a touchscreen with a finger or stylus,using a mouse, etc.) to draw one or more trajectories for referencepoint of end effector 186 from a starting location to a target location.Additionally or alternatively, movement of a user's appendage, such asthe user's arm, could also be captured and used to generate one or moretrajectories.

FIG. 3 schematically depicts an example architecture of a robot 300. Therobot 300 includes a robot control system 302, one or more operationalcomponents 304 a-n, and one or more sensors 308 a-m. The sensors 308 a-mmay include, for example, vision sensors (e.g., camera(s), 3D scanners),light sensors, pressure sensors, positional sensors, pressure wavesensors (e.g., microphones), proximity sensors, accelerometers,gyroscopes, thermometers, barometers, and so forth. While sensors 308a-m are depicted as being integral with robot 300, this is not meant tobe limiting. In some implementations, sensors 308 a-m may be locatedexternal to robot 300, e.g., as standalone units.

Operational components 304 a-n may include, for example, one or more endeffectors (e.g., grasping end effectors) and/or one or more servo motorsor other actuators to effectuate movement of one or more components ofthe robot. For example, the robot 300 may have multiple degrees offreedom and each of the actuators may control actuation of the robot 300within one or more of the degrees of freedom responsive to controlcommands provided by the robot control system 302 (e.g., torque and/orother commands generated based on a control policy). As used herein, theterm “actuator” encompasses a mechanical or electrical device thatcreates motion (e.g., a motor), in addition to any driver(s) that may beassociated with the actuator and that translate received controlcommands into one or more signals for driving the actuator. Accordingly,providing a control command to an actuator may comprise providing thecontrol command to a driver that translates the control command intoappropriate signals for driving an electrical or mechanical device tocreate desired motion.

The robot control system 302 may be implemented in one or moreprocessors, such as a CPU, GPU, and/or other controller(s) of the robot300. In some implementations, the robot 300 may comprise a “brain box”that may include all or aspects of the control system 302. For example,the brain box may provide real time bursts of data to the operationalcomponents 304 a-n, with each of the real time bursts comprising a setof one or more control commands that dictate, inter alia, the parametersof motion (if any) for each of one or more of the operational components304 a-n. As described herein, the control commands can be at leastselectively generated by the control system 302 based on a controlpolicy generated according to one or more techniques disclosed herein.

Although control system 302 is illustrated in FIG. 3 as an integral partof the robot 300, in some implementations, all or aspects of the controlsystem 302 may be implemented in a component that is separate from, butin communication with, robot 300. For example, all or aspects of controlsystem 302 may be implemented on one or more computing devices that arein wired and/or wireless communication with the robot 300, such ascomputing system 410.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram of an example computing system 410 that mayoptionally be utilized to perform one or more aspects of techniquesdescribed herein. The computing system 410 typically includes at leastone processor 414 which communicates with a number of peripheral devicesvia bus subsystem 412. These peripheral devices may include a storagesubsystem 424, including, for example, a memory subsystem 425 and a filestorage subsystem 426, user interface output devices 420, user interfaceinput devices 422, and a network interface subsystem 416. The input andoutput devices allow user interaction with the computing system 410.Network interface subsystem 416 provides an interface to outsidenetworks and is coupled to corresponding interface devices in othercomputing devices.

User interface input devices 422 may include a keyboard, pointingdevices such as a mouse, trackball, touchpad, or graphics tablet, ascanner, a touchscreen incorporated into the display, audio inputdevices such as voice recognition systems, microphones, and/or othertypes of input devices. In general, use of the term “input device” isintended to include all possible types of devices and ways to inputinformation into the computing system 410 or onto a communicationnetwork.

User interface output devices 420 may include a display subsystem, aprinter, a fax machine, or non-visual displays such as audio outputdevices. The display subsystem may include a cathode ray tube (CRT), aflat-panel device such as a liquid crystal display (LCD), a projectiondevice, or some other mechanism for creating a visible image. Thedisplay subsystem may also provide non-visual display such as via audiooutput devices. In general, use of the term “output device” is intendedto include all possible types of devices and ways to output informationfrom the computing system 410 to the user or to another machine orcomputing device.

Storage subsystem 424 stores programming and data constructs thatprovide the functionality of some or all of the modules and methods(e.g., method 700 of FIG. 7) described herein.

These software modules are generally executed by processor 414 alone orin combination with other processors. Memory 425 used in the storagesubsystem 424 can include a number of memories including a main randomaccess memory (RAM) 430 for storage of instructions and data duringprogram execution and a read only memory (ROM) 432 in which fixedinstructions are stored. A file storage subsystem 426 can providepersistent storage for program and data files, and may include a harddisk drive, a floppy disk drive along with associated removable media, aCD-ROM drive, an optical drive, or removable media cartridges. Themodules implementing the functionality of certain implementations may bestored by file storage subsystem 426 in the storage subsystem 424, or inother machines accessible by the processor(s) 414.

Bus subsystem 412 provides a mechanism for letting the variouscomponents and subsystems of the computing system 410 communicate witheach other as intended. Although bus subsystem 412 is shownschematically as a single bus, alternative implementations of the bussubsystem may use multiple busses.

The computing system 410 can be of varying types including aworkstation, server, computing cluster, blade server, server farm, orany other data processing system or computing device. Due to theever-changing nature of computers and networks, the description of thecomputing system 410 depicted in FIG. 4 is intended only as a specificexample for purposes of illustrating some implementations. Many otherconfigurations of the computing system 410 are possible having more orfewer components than the computing device depicted in FIG. 4.

Learning-from-demonstrations (“LfD”) or imitation learning involvesinference of a dynamical systems control policy from a relatively smallnumber of demonstrations. Such a dynamical systems control policy canthen bootstrap data-efficient reinforcement learning for challengingtasks. With imitation learning, in some cases, the demonstrator (e.g., arobot technician) attempts to ensure that the robot's motions capturethe relevant semantics of the task rather than requiring the robot tounderstand the semantics. The learned dynamical systems control policymay take over operation of the robot, e.g., from a teleoperator, andenable the robot to repeatedly execute the desired task even indynamically changing conditions. For example, the origin of a pickingtask and the goal of a placing task may dynamically shift toconfigurations unseen during training, and dynamic obstacles may beencountered during execution. Dynamic obstacles are particularlyrelevant in collaborative human-robot workspaces where safety guaranteesare paramount. In such situations, when faced with an obstacle, therobot can no longer follow the demonstration path anymore and shouldre-compute a new motion trajectory in real-time to avoid collision andstill attempt to accomplish the desired task.

In some implementations, such real-time adaptation can be achieved byassociating demonstrations with a dynamical system. In someimplementations, a vector field may be generated that defines aclosed-loop velocity dynamical systems control policy. From any statethat the robot finds itself in, the vector field may be used to steerthe robot back towards the desired imitation behavior, without the needfor path re-planning using conventional approaches. One advantage of thelearned vector field is that it can be modulated in real-time in orderto avoid collisions with obstacles.

In general, the problem of imitation learning of a dynamical system,{dot over (x)}=f (x)) from samples (x, {dot over (x)}) can be solved asa regression problem: minimize imitation lossΣ_(i,t)∥(x^((i))(t))−Σ_(i,t)∥(x^((i))(t))−{dot over (x)}^((i))(t)∥₂ ²over a suitable family of vector valued maps, f∈

. However, a naive supervised regression approach may be inadequate. InFIG. 5A, the illustrated goal is to have a robot arm imitate a circulartrajectory. However, as shown in FIG. 5B, estimating vector fields froma small number of trajectories sampled in discrete-time can lead toinstability. In particular, in FIG. 5B, the estimated field divergeswhen the initial conditions are even slightly different from thoseencountered during training. Accordingly, stability constraints areoften used with existing approaches. However, these approaches have oneor more of the following limitations. They involve non-convexoptimization for dynamics fitting and constructing Lyapunov stabilitycertificates respectively, and hence provide no end-to-end optimalityguarantees. Additionally, the notion of stability is nottrajectory-centric, but rather focused on reaching a single desiredequilibrium point. Finally, these approaches are computationallyinfeasible when formulated in continuous-time.

Accordingly, implementations described herein are usable to formulate acontinuous time optimization problem over vector fields involving animitation loss, subject to a constraint that turns the neighborhood ofdemonstrations into contracting regions. Within this region, alltrajectories are guaranteed to coalesce towards the demonstrationexponentially fast. As will be explained herein, such a formulationleads to an instance of time-varying semidefinite programming for whicha sum-of-squares (“SOS”) relaxation is exact. Hence, techniquesdescribed herein are able to find the globally optimal polynomial vectorfield that has the lowest imitation loss among all polynomial vectorfields of a given degree that are contracting on a region around thedemonstrations in continuous time.

Problem Statement

Implementations described herein may be used to estimate an unknowncontinuous time autonomous dynamical system:{dot over (x)}=f ^(real)(x),  (1)where f^(real):

^(n)→

^(n) is an unknown continuously differentiable function.

To implement techniques described herein, one more sample trajectoriesmay be accessed: x^((i)):[0, T]

^(n) that satisfy {dot over (x)}^((i))=f^(real)(x^((i)))∀t∈[0, T], whereT>0 and i=1, . . . , M. These trajectories (x^((i)), i=1 . . . . , M)may be used as training data, with a goal to search for an approximationof the vector field f^(real) in a class of functions of interest

that reproduces trajectories as close as possible to the one observedduring training. In other words, techniques described herein seek tosolve the following continuous time least squares optimization problem(“LSP”):

$\begin{matrix}{f^{*} \in {\arg{\min\limits_{f \in \mathcal{F}}{\sum_{i = 1}^{M}{\int_{t = 0}^{T}{{{{f\left( {x^{(i)}(t)} \right)} - {{\overset{.}{x}}^{(i)}(t)}}}_{2}^{2}.}}}}}} & ({LSP})\end{matrix}$

In addition to consistency with f_(real), a vector field f learned usingtechniques described herein may be generalized to conditions that werenot encountered in the training data. The LSP problem generally admitsmultiple solutions, as it only dictates how the vector field shouldbehave on the sample trajectories. This under-specification can easilylead to overfitting, especially if the class of function

is expressive enough. The example of FIGS. 5A and 5B reinforces thisphenomenon even for a simple circular motion.

Incremental Stability and Contraction Analysis

Notions of stability called incremental stability and contractionanalysis tools are associated with the convergence of systemtrajectories with respect to each other, as opposed to classicalLyapunov stability which is with respect to a single equilibrium.Contraction analysis derives sufficient and necessary conditions underwhich the displacement between any two trajectories will go to zero.

Contraction analysis of a system {dot over (x)}=f(x) can be explained byconsidering the dynamics of δx(t), the infinitesimal displacementbetween two trajectories:

$\begin{matrix}{{\delta\overset{.}{x}} = {{{J_{f}(x)}\delta\; x\mspace{20mu}{where}\mspace{14mu}{J_{f}(x)}} = {{\frac{\partial}{\partial x}f}.}}} & \;\end{matrix}$From this equation it is possible to derive the rate of change of theinfinitesimal squared distance between two trajectories ∥δx∥₂ ²=δx^(T)δxas follows:

$\begin{matrix}{{\frac{d}{dt}{{\delta\; x}}_{2}^{2}} = {{2\delta x^{T}\delta\overset{.}{x}} = {2\delta x^{T}{J_{f}(x)}\delta\;{x.}}}} & (2)\end{matrix}$

More generally, it is possible to consider the infinitesimal squareddistance with respect to a metric that is different from the Euclidianmetric. A metric is given by smooth, matrix-valued function M:

⁺×

^(n)

^(n×n) that is uniformly positive definite, i.e. there exists ϵ>0 suchthatM(t,x)

ϵI∀t∈

⁺ ,∀x∈

^(n),  (3)where I is the identity matrix and the relation A

B between two symmetric matrices A and B is used to denote that thesmallest eigenvalue of their difference A−B is nonnegative.

The squared norm of an infinitesimal displacement between twotrajectories with respect to this metric is given by ∥δx∥_(M(x)) ₂:=δxT_(M)(x)δx. The Euclidean metric corresponds to the case where M(x)is constant and equal to the identity matrix.

Similarly to equation (2), the rate of change of the squared norm of aninfinitesimal displacement with respect to a metric M(x) follows thefollowing dynamics:

$\begin{matrix}{{{\frac{d}{dt}{{\delta\; x}}_{M}(x)^{2}} = {\delta{x^{T}\left( {{sy{m\left\lbrack {{M(x)}{J_{f}(x)}} \right\rbrack}} + {\overset{.}{M}(x)}} \right)}\delta\; x}},} & (4)\end{matrix}$where sym[M] denotes

$\frac{M + M^{T}}{2}$for any square matrix M and {dot over (M)}(x) is the n×n matrix whose(i,j)-entry is ∇M_(ij)(x)^(T)f(x). This motivates the followingdefinition of contraction.

Definition 1 (Contraction): For a positive constant τ, a subset U of

^(n), of and positive definite matrix function M:

^(n)→

^(n×n),the system {dot over (x)}=f(x) is said to be τ-contracting on theregion U with respect to M ifsym[M(x)J _(f)(x)]+{dot over (M)}(x)

−τM(x)∀x∈U.  (5)

Remark 1: When the vector field f is a linear function {dot over(x)}=Ax, and the metric M(x) is constant M(x)=P, it can be seen thatcontraction condition (5) is in fact equivalent to a global stabilitycondition,P

0 and −PA ^(T) −AP

0  (6)

Given a τ-contracting vector field with respect to a metric M(x), it canbe concluded from the dynamics in Equation (4) that

${\frac{d}{dt}{{\delta\; x}}_{M{(x)}}^{2}} \leq {{- \tau}{{\delta\; x}}_{M{(x)}}}$Integrating both sides yields,

${{\delta\; x}}_{M{(x)}} \leq {e^{{- \frac{\tau}{2}}t}{{\delta\;{x(0)}}}_{M{(x)}}}$Hence, any infinitesimal length ∥δx∥_(M(x)) (and by assumption, ∥δx∥₂)converges exponentially to zero as time goes to infinity. This impliesthat in a contraction region, trajectories will tend to togetherconverge towards a nominal path. If the entire state-space iscontracting and a finite equilibrium exists, then this equilibrium isunique and all trajectories converge to this equilibrium.

It is also possible to globally solve the following continuous-timevector field optimization problem to fit a contracting vector field tothe training data given some fixed metric M(x). This will be referred toherein as the least squares problem with contraction (“LSPC”):

$\begin{matrix}{\min\limits_{f \in \mathcal{F}}{\sum_{i = 1}^{M}{\int_{t = 0}^{T}{{{f\left( {x^{(i)}(t)} \right)} - {\overset{.}{x^{(\iota)}}(t)}}}_{2}^{2}}}} & ({LSPC})\end{matrix}$

-   -   s. t. f contracts on a region U⊆        ^(n)    -   containing the demonstrations x^((i))(t)    -   with respect to the metric M(x).

The search for a contraction metric itself may be interpreted as thesearch for a Lyapunov function of the specific formV(x)=f(x)^(T)M(x)f(x). As is the case with Lyapunov analysis in general,finding such an incremental stability certificate for a given dynamicalsystem is a nontrivial problem. If one wishes to find the vector fieldand a corresponding contraction metric at the same time, then theproblem becomes non-convex. A common approach to handle this kind ofproblems is to optimize over one parameter at a time and fix the otherone to its latest value and then alternate (i.e. fix a contractionmetric and fit the vector field, then fix the vector field and improveon the contraction metric.)

Next, an explanation will be provided for how to formulate and solve theproblem of learning a contracting vector field from demonstrationsdescribed in LSPC. It is possible to formulate it as a time-varyingsemidefinite problem, which can be solved in some implementations usingsum of squares programming.

Time-varying semidefinite problems (TV-SDP) optimization programs willbe referred to herein in the form:

$\begin{matrix}{{\min\limits_{f \in \mathcal{F}}{L(f)}}{{{{{s.t.\mspace{14mu}\mathcal{L}_{i}}{f(t)}} \succcurlyeq {0{\forall i}}} = 1},\ldots\mspace{14mu},{m{\forall{t \in \left\lbrack {0,T} \right\rbrack}}},}} & \left( {{TV}\text{-}{SDP}} \right)\end{matrix}$where the variable t∈[0, T] stands for time, the loss function L:

in the objective is assumed to be convex and the

(i=1, . . . ,m) are linear functionals that map an element f∈

to a matrix-valued function

f:[0, T]

^(n×n). The space of functions

may be restricted to be the space of functions whose components arepolynomials of degree d∈

:={f:

^(n)

^(n) |fi∈

_(d)[x]},  (7)and it can be assumed that

f is a matrix with polynomial entries. Polynomial functions canapproximate most functions reasonably well and are suitable foralgorithmic operations as will be described shortly.

In various implementations, the problem in LSPC of fitting a vectorfield f:

^(n)

^(n) to m sample trajectories {(x^((i))(t), {dot over(x)}^((i))(t))|t∈[0, T], i=1, . . . , m} can be reformulated as aTV-SDP. For this problem to fit within frameworks described herein, eachtrajectory x^((i))(t) may be approximated with a polynomial function oftime

$x\begin{matrix}(i) \\{poly}\end{matrix}{(t).}$The decision variable may be the polynomial vector field f and thefollowing objective function (which is already convex and quadratic) canbe optimized:

$\begin{matrix}{{L(f)}:={\sum_{i = 1}^{M}{\int_{t = 0}^{T}{{{f\left( {x\begin{matrix}(i) \\{poly}\end{matrix}(t)} \right)} - {\left( {\overset{.}{x}\begin{matrix}(i) \\{poly}\end{matrix}(t)} \right._{2}^{2}{dt}}}}}}} & (8)\end{matrix}$In order to impose the contraction of the vector field f over someregion around the trajectories in demonstration, a smoothness argumentmay be used to claim that it is sufficient to impose contraction only onthe trajectories themselves. Put another way,

$\begin{matrix}{{{\mathcal{L}_{i}{f( \cdot )}}:={{- {{sym}\left\lbrack {{M\left( {x\begin{matrix}\overset{.}{(\iota)} \\{poly}\end{matrix}( \cdot )} \right)}{J_{f}\left( {x\begin{matrix}\overset{.}{(\iota)} \\{poly}\end{matrix}( \cdot )} \right)}} \right\rbrack}} - {\overset{.}{M}\left( {x\begin{matrix}\overset{.}{(\iota)} \\{poly}\end{matrix}( \cdot )} \right)} - {\tau\;{M\left( {x\begin{matrix}\overset{.}{(\iota)} \\{poly}\end{matrix}( \cdot )} \right)}}}},} & (9)\end{matrix}$where M(x) is some known contraction metric.

Sum of Squares Programming

The notions of sum-of-squares (“SOS”) programming and its applicationsto polynomial optimization will now be reviewed, as well as how to applySOS programming for learning a polynomial contracting vector field, or“CVF-P.” SOS techniques have found several applications in robotics,such as constructing Lyapunov functions, locomotion planning, design andverification of provably safe controllers, grasping and manipulation,inverse optimal control and modeling 3D geometry.

Let

_(d)[x] be the ring of polynomials p(x) in real variables x=(x₁, . . . ,x_(n)) with real coefficients of degree at most d. A polynomial p∈

_([x]) is nonnegative if p(x)≥0 for every x∈

^(n). In many applications, a goal may be to find the coefficients ofone (or several) polynomials without violating some nonnegativityconstraints. While the notion of nonnegativity is conceptually easy tounderstand, testing whether a given polynomial is nonnegative is knownto be NP-hard as soon as the degree d≥4 and the number of variables n≥3.

A polynomial p∈

_([x]) is SOS if there exists polynomials q₁, . . . , q_(m)∈

_(d)[x] such thatp(x)=Σ_(i=t) ^(m) q _(i)(x)²  (10)

One feature of the set of SOS polynomials is that optimizing over it canbe cast a tractable size semidefinite program. In fact, a polynomialp(x) of degree d can be decomposed if and only if there exists apositive semidefinite matrix Q such thatp(x)=z(x)^(T) Qz(x)∀x∈

^(n),where z(x) is the vector of monomials of x up to degree

$\frac{d}{2},$and the equality between me two sides of the equation is equivalent to aset of linear equalities in the coefficients of the polynomial p(x) andthe entries of the matrix Q.

If a polynomial p(x) is SOS, then it is nonnegative, and the matrix Qacts as a certificate of this fact, making it practical to check thatthe polynomial at hand is nonnegative for every value of the vector x.In order to use similar techniques to impose contraction of a vectorfield, a slight generalization of this concept may be employed to ensurethat a matrix-valued polynomial P(x) is positive semidefinite (PSD) forall values of x. It is also possible to consider the scalar-valuedpolynomial q (x,u):=u^(T)P x)u, where u is a nx1 vector of newindeterminates, as positive semidefiniteness of P is equivalent to thenon-negativity of q. If q is SOS, then it can be said that P is asum-of-squares matrix (“SOSM”). Consequently, optimizing over SOSMmatrices is a tractable problem.

A natural question that arises is how much is lost by restrictingtechniques described herein to the set of SOSM matrices, as opposed theset of PSD matrices. In general, these two sets are quite different.However, all the matrices considered are univariate as they depend onlyon the variable of time t. It turns out that in this special case, thesetwo notions are equivalent.

Theorem 1: A matrix-valued polynomial P(t) is PSD everywhere (i.e. P(t)

0∀t∈

) if and only if the associated polynomial p(t, u):=uP(t)u is SOS.

The next theorem generalizes this result to the case where PSD-ness isimposed only on the interval [0, T] (as opposed to t∈

)

Theorem 2: A matrix-valued polynomial P(t) of degree d is PSD on theinterval [0, T] (i. e. P(t)

0═t∈[0, T]) if and only if can be written as:

$\quad\left\{ \begin{matrix}{{P(t)} = {{t{V(t)}} + {\left( {T - t} \right){W(t)}}}} & {{{if}\mspace{14mu}{\deg(P)}\mspace{14mu}{odd}},} \\{{P(t)} = {{V(t)} + {{t\left( {T - t} \right)}{W(t)}}}} & {{if}\mspace{14mu}{\deg(P)}\mspace{14mu}{{even}.}}\end{matrix} \right.$where V and W are SOSM. In the first case, V and W have degree at mostdeg (P)−1, and in the second case V (resp.) has degree at most deg (P)(resp. deg (P)). When that is the case, it can be said that P(t) is SOSMon [0, T].

The following theorem states that the problem fitting a CFV-P topolynomial data can be cast as a semidefinite program.

Theorem 3: The following semidefinite program

$\begin{matrix}{{\min\limits_{f \in \mathcal{F}}{\sum_{i = 1}^{M}{\int_{t = 0}^{T}{{{{f\left( {x\begin{matrix}(i) \\p\end{matrix}(t)} \right)} - {{\overset{.}{x}}_{p}^{(i)}(t)}}}_{2}^{2}{dt}}}}}{{{{s.t.\mspace{14mu}\mathcal{L}_{i}}f\mspace{14mu}{is}\mspace{14mu}{SOSM}\mspace{14mu}{{on}\mspace{14mu}\left\lbrack {0,T} \right\rbrack}{\mspace{11mu}\;}{for}\mspace{14mu} i} = 1},\ldots\mspace{14mu},{m.}}} & \left( {{LSPC}\text{-}{SOS}} \right)\end{matrix}$with

_(i), and L finding the polynomial vector field that has the lowestfitting error L(f) among all polynomial vector fields of degree that arecontracting on a region around the demonstrations x_(p) ^((i)).

To reiterate, the above sum-of-squares relaxation leads to no loss ofoptimality: the semidefinite programming above returns the globallyoptimal solution to the problem stated previously as LSPC. Someimplementations described herein may use the splitting conic solver(“SCS”) for solving large-scale convex cone problems.

The contraction property of CVF-P generalizes to a wider region in thestate space. The next proposition shows that any sufficiently smoothvector field that is feasible for the problem stated in LSPC-SOS iscontracting on a “tube” around the demonstrated trajectories.

Proposition 1 (A lower bound on the contraction tube):

If f: Ω⊆

^(n)→

^(n) is a twice continuously differentiable vector field that satisfies−sym[M(x(t))J _(f)(x(t))]−{dot over (M)}(x(t))

τM(x)∀t∈[0, T]where Ω is a compact region of

^(n), τ is a positive constant, M(x) is a positive definite metric, andx: [0, T]

^(n) is a path, then f is τ/4-contracting with respect to the metricM(x) on the region U defined byU:={x(t)+δ|∈[0, T], ∥δ∥₂≤ϵ}∩Ω,where ϵ is positive scalar depending only on the smoothness parametersand defined explicitly in Eqn (11).

For the proof, the following fact about symmetric matrices will be used:

Lemma 1: For any n×n symmetric matrices A and B

${{{{\lambda_{\min}(A)} - {\lambda_{\min}(B)}}} \leq {\underset{ij}{n\max}{{A_{ij} - B_{ij}}}}},$where λ_(min)(⋅) denotes the smallest eigenvalue function.

Proof Let f, M, Ω and τ be as in the statement of Proposition 1. Definec=max{λ≥0|M(x)

λM(

)∀x, y∈Ω}C=min{λ≥0|λM(x)

(

∀x, y∈Ω}.Notice that c≤C, and since the metric M(x) is uniformly positivedefinite, then c>0. The following definition will be used:

$\begin{matrix}{{ɛ:={\frac{TC}{2nLC} > 0}}{where}{L:={\begin{matrix}\sup \\{x \in \Omega}\end{matrix}{\sum_{{1 \leq i},{j \leq n}}{{{\frac{\partial}{\partial x}\left( {{sy{m\left\lbrack {{M(x)}{J_{f}(x)}} \right\rbrack}} + {\overset{.}{M}(x)}} \right)_{ij}}}_{2}.}}}}} & (11)\end{matrix}$Fix t∈[0, T], and let δ be a vector in

such that ∥δ∥₂≤∈. The goal is to prove that the matrix:R ^(δ:=−sym[) M(x)(t)+δ)J _(f)(x(t)+δ)]−{dot over (M)}(x(t)+δ)satisfies R^(δ)

τ/2M(x(t)+δ). Notice that the choice for L guarantees that the maps δ

R_(ij) ^(δ) are L-Lipchitz for i,j=1, . . . , n, thereforemax_(ij)|R_(ij) ^(δ)−R_(ij) ⁰|≤Lδ. Using Lemma 1 it can be seen that thesmallest eigenvalues of R^(δ) and R⁰ are within a distance of

$\frac{\tau c}{2C}$each other. Since it is assumed that R⁰

τM(x(t))

cτI, then R^(δ)

CI

M(x(t)+δ).

Pick-and-Place with Obstacles

A “pick-and-place” robot task is a task in which objects are picked by arobot from a known location and placed into another location such as abox. With techniques described herein, a teleoperator can demonstrate arelatively small number of trajectories that guide a robot arm to graspobjects and place them in a box. After learning from thesedemonstrations, the robot arm is expected to continually fill boxes tobe verified and moved by a human working in close proximity freelymoving obstacles in and out of the workspace.

FIG. 6A shows an example of a demonstration pick and place trajectorycollected from a user. The pick and place task was collected as twoseparate trajectories, one (downward motion) for the pick motion andanother (arc from right to left) for the place motion. From thisdemonstration trajectory, a composition of pick-and-place polynomialcontracting vector fields (“CVP-Ps”) are fit to the data, one for thepick motion, one for the place. These trajectories were fit to a degreetwo polynomial withτ=0.1, α=10⁻⁸, using a splitting conic solver (“SCS”)run for 2,500 iterations. For the ease of visualization, the resultingtrajectories are depicted in Cartesian space in FIG. 6B. The CVF-P wasfit to the trajectory in the 7-dimensional joint space. The robot armwas then operated using the CVF-P eight times starting from the homeposition. Each trajectory was allowed to run until the

₂—norm of the arm joint velocities dropped below a threshold of 0.01. Atthat point, the arm would begin to move using the second vector field.The trajectories taken by the arm are shown in FIG. 6B. The eight runshave very little deviation from each other.

Next, noise was added to the home position of the robot arm, and againthe CVF-P was used to operate the robot arm through the pick-and-placetask. In FIG. 6C, noise was added uniformly from the range [−0.05, 0.05]radians to each value of each joint of the arm's starting home position.In FIG. 6D, uniform noise was added in the same manner from the range[−0.1, 0.1]. Due to contraction, trajectories are seen to converge fromrandom initial conditions.

FIG. 6E demonstrates what happens if the robot arm is run eight timesusing a vector field without contraction. While the arm is consistent inthe trajectory that it takes, the arm moves far from the demonstratedtrajectory, and eventually causes an emergency break to activate atjoint limits, and the task fails. This problem is exacerbated when noiseis added. For example, in FIG. 6F, the arm was again run eight timeswithout contraction with noise added uniformly from the range [−0.05,0.05] to each the value of each joint of the arm's starting homeposition. The trajectory of the arm varied widely and had to be cutshort as it caused an emergency break to engage.

In various implementations, a robot arm can be operated to followdemonstrated trajectories while avoiding obstacles unseen duringtraining. In the implementation described below, collisions are avoidedagainst any part of robot body. At every time step, a depth sensor(e.g., 2.5 or 3D vision sensor) acquires a representation of theobstacle, such as a point cloud. At this point, the demonstrations andtrajectories exist in joint space

≈

⁷, while the obstacle exists (e.g., as a point cloud) in Cartesian space

≈

³ with an origin at the base of the robot.

In some implementations, a set-valued inverse kinematic map IK isprecomputed that maps a position c∈

to a subset of

a containing all the joint configurations that would cause any part ofthe arm to occupy the position c. More formally, the obstacles positionsare known in Cartesian space

, which is different from the control space

of the robot (e.g., the joint angles are controlled, rather thanend-effector pose). A robot arm simulator enables queries of a forwardkinematics map FK:

→

. To compute the inverse of this map, the joint space of the robot maybe discretized into some number (e.g., 658,945) discrete positions.These discrete positions may be created, for instance, by regularlysampling each joint from a min to max angle using a step size of, forinstance, 0.1 radians. In some implementations, the robot may bepositioned in a simulator at each point of the discrete joint spacepoints. The robot may then be voxelized to generate the map FK. IK canbe computed as the inverse of FK: IK=FK⁻¹.

In various implementations, the obstacle positions may then beincorporated in a repulsive vector-field to push the arm away fromcollision as it moves,

$\begin{matrix}{{{h^{obstacles}\left( {t,x} \right)}:={\sum_{{{positions}\mspace{14mu}{of}}{{obstacles}\mspace{14mu} c}{{at}\mspace{14mu}{time}\mspace{14mu} t}}{\sum_{j\;\epsilon\; T^{- 1}c}\frac{x - j}{{{x - j}}_{2}^{r}}}}},} & (12)\end{matrix}$where the integer r control how fast the effect of this vector fielddecays as a function of distance (a high value of r makes the effect ofh^(obstacles) local, while a small value makes its effect more uniform.)This vector field may be added to the learnt vector-field f to obtain amodulated vector field (depicted in FIG. 8C):{tilde over (f)}(t, x)=f(x)+αh ^(obstacles)(t, x)where α is positive constant that is responsible controlling thestrength of the modulation that is then fed to the robot arm. If themodulation is local and the obstacle is well within the joint-spacecontraction tube, the motion can be expected to re-converge to thedemonstrated behavior.

Obstacle avoidance is not limited to the modulation methods describedherein. Other modulation techniques are possible for obstacle avoidance,each with different guarantees and drawbacks. For example, amultiplicative modulation function may be employed that preservesequilibrium points in the case of convex or concave obstacles. However,the modulation techniques described herein, due to their additivenature, allow for handling of a large number of obstacles as every termin Equation (14) can be computed in a distributed fashion. Additionally,it is not necessary to impose any restrictions on the shape of theobstacles (convex/concave). This is particularly important as the jointcontrol space

is different from the Cartesian space

where the obstacle is observed, and the map IK that links between thetwo spaces can significantly alter the shape of an obstacle in general(e.g. a sphere in Cartesian space can be mapped to a disconnected set injoint space).

FIG. 6G depicts eight trajectories that were achieved using a CVF-Pgenerated using techniques described herein, where an obstacle wasintroduced to the robot's workspace. At each time step, the object'sposition was returned by a motion capture system. The object's positionin Cartesian space was used to modulate the joint space vector field asdescribed previously. The pick-and-place tasks were accomplished as therobot arm avoided the obstacle but remained within the joint-spacecontraction tube re-converging to the demonstrated behavior.

FIG. 7 illustrates a flowchart of an example method 700 for practicingselected aspects of the present disclosure. The steps of FIG. 7 can beperformed by one or more processors, such as one or more processors ofthe various computing devices/systems described herein. For convenience,operations of method 700 will be described as being performed by asystem configured with selected aspects of the present disclosure. Otherimplementations may include additional steps than those illustrated inFIG. 7, may perform step(s) of FIG. 7 in a different order and/or inparallel, and/or may omit one or more of the steps of FIG. 7.

At block 702, the system may receive a set of data points generatedbased on sensor data from one or more sensors obtained during imitationlearning of a robot trajectory. The imitation learning may include, forinstance, physical manipulation of a reference point from an initialpoint to a target point.

At blocks 704-708, the system may generate a dynamical systems controlpolicy that regulates both robot motion and robot interaction with anenvironment. For example, at block 704, the system may constrain aneighborhood space that contains the set of data points into acontracting region. In some such implementations, the contracting regionmay take the form of a tube around the robot trajectory. At block 706,the system may, based on the set of data points, calculate a continuousfunction that corresponds to the robot trajectory. At block 708, thesystem may fit a polynomial vector field to the continuous functionusing semidefinite programming, as described previously.

At block 710, the system may control a robot based on the dynamicalsystems control policy. If the robot encounters an obstacle duringoperation, at block 712, the system may receive sensor data indicativeof a position of the obstacle in Cartesian space. For example, a dynamicobstacle may be observed in the robot's workspace using a 2.5 or 3Dvision sensor. At block 714, the system may determine a position of theobstacle in joint space based on the position of the obstacle inCartesian space. As described previously, in some implementations, thesystem may discretize some number of joint configurations and determinea forward kinematics (“FK,” i.e. joint-space-to-Cartesian-space) mappingbased on those discretized joint configurations. Then, the system maycalculate an inverse of that mapping, IK, which maps Cartesian space tojoint space. At block 716, based on the position of the obstacle injoint space, the system may generate a repulsive polynomial vector fieldfor the obstacle.

At block 718, the system may modulate the polynomial vector field of thedynamical systems control policy based on the repulsive polynomialvector field for the obstacle. An example of this is depicted in FIGS.8A-C. FIG. 8A depicts a vector field F learned from a nominal path(thickened black line). FIG. 8B depicts a repulsive vector fieldassociated with an obstacle (black disk). FIG. 8C depicts a modulatedvector field that results when the unmodulated vector field of FIG. 8Ais modulated with the repulsive vector field in FIG. 8B, with the blackdisk in FIG. 8C representing the obstacle.

Described herein were implementations for teleoperator imitation usingcontracting vector fields that are globally optimal with respect to lossminimization and providing continuous-time guarantees on the behavior ofthe system when started from within a contraction tube around thedemonstration. Techniques described herein compare favorably with othermovement generation techniques. Also described herein are techniques togenerate a workspace Cartesian to joint space mapping for the robot, andfor utilizing the mapping to update contracting vector fields on the flyto avoid dynamic obstacles.

While several implementations have been described and illustratedherein, a variety of other means and/or structures for performing thefunction and/or obtaining the results and/or one or more of theadvantages described herein may be utilized, and each of such variationsand/or modifications is deemed to be within the scope of theimplementations described herein. More generally, all parameters,dimensions, materials, and configurations described herein are meant tobe exemplary and that the actual parameters, dimensions, materials,and/or configurations will depend upon the specific application orapplications for which the teachings is/are used. Those skilled in theart will recognize, or be able to ascertain using no more than routineexperimentation, many equivalents to the specific implementationsdescribed herein. It is, therefore, to be understood that the foregoingimplementations are presented by way of example only and that, withinthe scope of the appended claims and equivalents thereto,implementations may be practiced otherwise than as specificallydescribed and claimed. Implementations of the present disclosure aredirected to each individual feature, system, article, material, kit,and/or method described herein. In addition, any combination of two ormore such features, systems, articles, materials, kits, and/or methods,if such features, systems, articles, materials, kits, and/or methods arenot mutually inconsistent, is included within the scope of the presentdisclosure.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method implemented by one or more processors,comprising: receiving a set of data points generated based on sensordata from one or more sensors obtained during imitation learning of arobot trajectory, wherein the imitation learning includes physicalmanipulation of a reference point from an initial point to a targetpoint; generating a dynamical systems control policy that regulates bothrobot motion and robot interaction with an environment, whereingenerating the dynamical systems control policy comprises: based on theset of data points, calculating a continuous function that correspondsto the robot trajectory, constraining a neighborhood space that containsthe set of data points into a contracting region, and fitting apolynomial vector field to the continuous function using semidefiniteprogramming, wherein the dynamical systems control policy comprises thepolynomial vector field; and controlling a robot based on the dynamicalsystems control policy.
 2. The method of claim 1, wherein thecontracting region comprises a tube around the robot trajectory.
 3. Themethod of claim 1, further comprising: receiving sensor data indicativeof a position of an obstacle in Cartesian space; determining a positionof the obstacle in joint space based on the position of the obstacle inCartesian space; based on the position of the obstacle in joint space,generating a repulsive polynomial vector field for the obstacle; andmodulating the polynomial vector field of the dynamical systems controlpolicy based on the repulsive polynomial vector field for the obstacle.4. The method of claim 3, wherein the position of the obstacle in jointspace is determined based on a mapping from Cartesian space to jointspace.
 5. The method of claim 4, wherein the mapping is generated by:discretizing the joint space of the robot into a plurality of discretepositions; voxelizing the robot at each of the plurality of discretepositions to generate a mapping from joint space to Cartesian space; andcalculating the mapping from Cartesian space to joint space as aninverse of the mapping from joint space to Cartesian space.
 6. Themethod of claim 5, wherein the discretizing comprising regularlysampling each joint of the robot from a minimum angle to a maximum angleusing a predetermined step size.
 7. A control system, comprising: one ormore robots; memory storing instruction; and one or more processorsoperable to execute the instructions stored in the memory, comprisinginstructions to: receive a set of data points generated based on sensordata from one or more sensors obtained during imitation learning of arobot trajectory, wherein the imitation learning includes physicalmanipulation of a reference point from an initial point to a targetpoint; generate a dynamical systems control policy that regulates bothrobot motion and robot interaction with an environment, whereingenerating the dynamical systems control policy comprises: based on theset of data points, calculate a continuous function that corresponds tothe robot trajectory, constrain a neighborhood space that contains theset of data points into a contracting region, and fit a polynomialvector field to the continuous function using semidefinite programming,wherein the dynamical systems control policy comprises the polynomialvector field; and control a robot based on the dynamical systems controlpolicy.
 8. The control system of claim 7, wherein the contracting regioncomprises a tube around the robot trajectory.
 9. The control system ofclaim 7, further comprising instructions to: receive sensor dataindicative of a position of an obstacle in Cartesian space; determine aposition of the obstacle in joint space based on the position of theobstacle in Cartesian space; based on the position of the obstacle injoint space, generate a repulsive polynomial vector field for theobstacle; and modulate the polynomial vector field of the dynamicalsystems control policy based on the repulsive polynomial vector fieldfor the obstacle.
 10. The control system of claim 9, wherein theposition of the obstacle in joint space is determined based on a mappingfrom Cartesian space to joint space.
 11. The control system of claim 10,wherein the mapping is generated by: discretizing the joint space of therobot into a plurality of discrete positions; voxelizing the robot ateach of the plurality of discrete positions to generate a mapping fromjoint space to Cartesian space; and calculating the mapping fromCartesian space to joint space as an inverse of the mapping from jointspace to Cartesian space.
 12. The control system of claim 11, whereinthe discretizing comprising regularly sampling each joint of the robotfrom a minimum angle to a maximum angle using a predetermined step size.13. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium comprisinginstructions that, when executed, cause at least one processor to:receive a set of data points generated based on sensor data from one ormore sensors obtained during imitation learning of a robot trajectory,wherein the imitation learning includes physical manipulation of areference point from an initial point to a target point; generate adynamical systems control policy that regulates both robot motion androbot interaction with an environment, wherein generating the dynamicalsystems control policy comprises: based on the set of data points,calculate a continuous function that corresponds to the robottrajectory, constrain a neighborhood space that contains the set of datapoints into a contracting region, and fit a polynomial vector field tothe continuous function using semidefinite programming, wherein thedynamical systems control policy comprises the polynomial vector field;and control a robot based on the dynamical systems control policy. 14.The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 13, whereinthe contracting region comprises a tube around the robot trajectory. 15.The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 13, furthercomprising instructions to: receive sensor data indicative of a positionof an obstacle in Cartesian space; determine a position of the obstaclein joint space based on the position of the obstacle in Cartesian space;based on the position of the obstacle in joint space, generate arepulsive polynomial vector field for the obstacle; and modulate thepolynomial vector field of the dynamical systems control policy based onthe repulsive polynomial vector field for the obstacle.
 16. Thenon-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 15, wherein theposition of the obstacle in joint space is determined based on a mappingfrom Cartesian space to joint space.
 17. The non-transitorycomputer-readable storage medium of claim 16, wherein the mapping isgenerated by: discretizing the joint space of the robot into a pluralityof discrete positions; voxelizing the robot at each of the plurality ofdiscrete positions to generate a mapping from joint space to Cartesianspace; and calculating the mapping from Cartesian space to joint spaceas an inverse of the mapping from joint space to Cartesian space.